Janos Nagy
Member
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2017
- Messages
- 8
I started figure painting about a year ago. As an armor guy /1:35 scale/, figure painting is a completely new challenge to me and I am still learning. I am a hobbyist, a pure amateur.
The first thing I have recognized, how quickly I spent a hell lot of money on different paints, trying to find the right one for my taste.
Without any scientific approach, here are some rather subjective findings about paints and tools I have invested into. I hope this might help optimizing your shopping list as a beginner.
Primers: Painting mainly resin figures, I was looking for something robust. As a beginner, I might pay too much attention to the smoothness of the primed surface, so I keep sanding, fixing casting errors etc until it is perfect. From this perspective the Tamiya Super Fine Surface Primer is the most indestructible primer I have found. Close second is the Gunze Primer Surfacer. Both are Lacquers, adhering well to resin, but not health friendly. As an alternative acrylic primer I find Badger Stynylrez quite good /obviously not as robust as a Lacquer/, and works as a brush on primer as well.
If you are a beginner like me, you might find useful the fact that an acrylic paint can be removed, from a figure, using Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner, which does not attack the above mentioned Tamiya or Gunze primers. You can re-start painting if you wish.
I have been using Gunze/Tamiya acrylics for more than 20 years, but those are for airbrushing /and solvent based acrylics/. I was keen learning more about brush painting with water soluble acrylic.
First lesson- The paint: While manufacturers keep the paint recipe secret, we can certainly say the pigment, binder and the additives defining the paint characteristic. The acrylic polymer/resin is the binder/glue holding the pigments together and adhering to the surface.
The acrylic polymer itself and the composition of additives differ by Manufacturer, resulting in a unique behavior of the paint among others. Glazing as a popular technique, require a very translucent layer of paint, allowing the color below showing trough. For armor guys: it is like a filter with very few pigments. Mixing your own glazes from normal acrylic paint, you basically overthin the paint reducing the number of pigments in the paint film. How opaque the pigment itself is important, but I will skip this part now. Acrylic resin differs by Manufacturer and they tolerate overthinning differently /strictly using distilled water only for thinning/. As soon the acrylic resin not able forming a film , it will release the pigment to the surface. It is called chalking in English, I think. If you are not looking for this particular effect, it is simply ugly. The chalking is prevalent using light colors over dark surfaces /titanium dioxide as pigment is prone to this effect/. I find Schmincke Primacryl /tube version/ having the best resin from this perspective. /comparing to GW, Vallejo, P3, Liquitex Heavy Body, Army Painter/. P3 is also a very good paint, but my local shop stopped selling them.
I would say Vallejo Model range is ok as an acrylic paint /some say it is mixed with vinyl resin, but it is not the case anymore, it is pure acrylic polymer/. For beginners Vallejo still has a huge benefit, because many SBS articles describing the painting process using Vallejo paints.
Scale75 is a unique acrylic paint with a real death matte finish. Although I consider the resin in the Scale75 paint average quality, the pigmentation, the selection of the colors still makes them worthy to buy.
GW paints are real acrylic polymer paints /no vinyl/, just overpriced. So far I could not find any evidence that any of the model paint manufacturers producing anything better than student grade paints /which is till good quality for many of us/, which is quite funny considering that top quality artist paints are cheaper.
From Army Painter I have few colors only, nothing special to mention.
No science here, just a recommendation to grab a tube of Primacryl or P3 and give a try, before investing into the whole range of any brand.
You might also use premixed washes for glazing, or use mediums containing resin for mixing.
Second lesson - The mediums. In short these are the additives /some pre-mixed into the paint already/ changing the drying time, transparency, viscosity, sheen etc of the paint.
This is the same story as with the paints, huge differences among the manufacturers. First note: while artist grade acrylics and mediums represent very good quality, both the paint and many mediums dry with gloss or semi-gloss surface. /exception of Jo Sonja and Vallejo Artis Acrylics, none of them available in my country unfortunately/. Some mediums contain resin/acrylic polymer, some not. Those lacking the resin are pure additives, without any binding power of the resin, therefore there is a limit how much of the medium can be mixed into your paint. Those with resin, can be mixed into the paint as much as you wish /sort of/. Among the mediums, the Matte medium is the one I use heavily. Liquitex Ultra Matte Medium is far the best I used so far /vs Vallejo, Amsterdam, GW Lahmian/. There are 2 main reasons using Matte medium. 1. Reduce gloss of the paint and washes. With artist acrylics it is must have, it is quite useful for model paints as well, because none of them are death matte /except Scale75/. 2. A paint, wash, glazing layer adheres to a matte surface better than to glossy surface. In the worst case nothing binds to the glossy surface. Use matte medium to prevent this. Alternatively you can use matte varnish to overcome gloss surface adherence problems. Tamiya X21 Flat base works to certain extend to reduce gloss, but it is not a real medium, but more a silica powder.
As soon you learn about blending technique, you will hear about retarders. Retarder medium is slowing the drying time of the acrylic paint. Usually Fluid retarder do not contain any binder/glue, so the proportion added to the mix shall be well controlled. Too much retarder might prevent the acrylic polymer forming a film layer, and will never really dry.
Next you might start creating washes, were Flow improver is coming into the picture. As the name suggest it helps with the flow of the paint. This additive helping braking the surface tension of water.
Both retarder and flow improver required during airbrushing acrylics, with a product like Liquitex Airbrush Medium you might get what you need for both blending and mixing washes.
Two more point to be considered when using additives. In general they reduce the strength of the acryl film layer, use sparingly /except those containing resin/. You might re-consider licking your brush during painting, especially when using Flow improver. Read the label, some ingredient might be nasty.
Third lesson - water palette. Might be the most important lesson for a beginner. There are many articles about it, you can easily create your own wet palette. As a sponge any water absorbent kitchen type is fine, as long it is white /Vileda has some/. As a beginner introducing color shifting into your mixing process, due to the color sponge below your wet paper, is just too big challenge. The usual recommendation for the paper is to go with baking/parchment paper. Depending on your country, it might be the way to go, but I have no success with the baking papers from my country. Main issue is they dissolve quickly after adding water and introducing fiber parts into the paint mix. I bought Mr Black wet palette, which has a sheet of both Masterson and Rowney special paper /the 2 main supplier of wet palette for artist shops/. I use Masterson because it is thicker.
And the most important tool – the brush. The usual recommendation is Winsor Series 7. Easy one, so I went to the only local shop selling these. No luck. Spending half hour examining Series 7 0/1/2 size brushes I was not impressed. The sharpness of the tip, density and the form of bristles differed on each one of them. Calling the local distributor I figured that it might be just a bad batch, or since they are made in China QC dropped. No idea.
I ended up buying brushes from a local shop, who is rebranding smaller German/ Japanese/ Chinese manufacturers products. I have also learned from them, that there are still many small brush manufacturers, so it is worth asking around in your country.
Summarizing all this, the recommended shopping list for a beginner
- Mr Black wet palette / or a DIY
- Badger Stynylrez primer /or re-packed version from Ultimate, MIG etc
- Vallejo Model Color Face/Skin 16 set /widely available and reasonable price
- 60ml Schmincke Primacryl Titanium White /because of the resin quality and this is a real opaque white
- Liquitex Ultra matte medium or Liqiutex Matte Medium
- Liquitex Airbrush medium /as retarder and flow improver/
Even if you are not a born Michelangelo/I am definitely not/, with practice you might get some pleasing results. Choosing the right tools from the beginning, helps a lot preserving your motivation.
There are many brands missing, due to the lack of availability in my country, like Golden, Jo Sonja, Winsor Artist, Atelier Interactive, Vallejo Artist etc. Sonner or later ...
The first thing I have recognized, how quickly I spent a hell lot of money on different paints, trying to find the right one for my taste.
Without any scientific approach, here are some rather subjective findings about paints and tools I have invested into. I hope this might help optimizing your shopping list as a beginner.
Primers: Painting mainly resin figures, I was looking for something robust. As a beginner, I might pay too much attention to the smoothness of the primed surface, so I keep sanding, fixing casting errors etc until it is perfect. From this perspective the Tamiya Super Fine Surface Primer is the most indestructible primer I have found. Close second is the Gunze Primer Surfacer. Both are Lacquers, adhering well to resin, but not health friendly. As an alternative acrylic primer I find Badger Stynylrez quite good /obviously not as robust as a Lacquer/, and works as a brush on primer as well.
If you are a beginner like me, you might find useful the fact that an acrylic paint can be removed, from a figure, using Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner, which does not attack the above mentioned Tamiya or Gunze primers. You can re-start painting if you wish.
I have been using Gunze/Tamiya acrylics for more than 20 years, but those are for airbrushing /and solvent based acrylics/. I was keen learning more about brush painting with water soluble acrylic.
First lesson- The paint: While manufacturers keep the paint recipe secret, we can certainly say the pigment, binder and the additives defining the paint characteristic. The acrylic polymer/resin is the binder/glue holding the pigments together and adhering to the surface.
The acrylic polymer itself and the composition of additives differ by Manufacturer, resulting in a unique behavior of the paint among others. Glazing as a popular technique, require a very translucent layer of paint, allowing the color below showing trough. For armor guys: it is like a filter with very few pigments. Mixing your own glazes from normal acrylic paint, you basically overthin the paint reducing the number of pigments in the paint film. How opaque the pigment itself is important, but I will skip this part now. Acrylic resin differs by Manufacturer and they tolerate overthinning differently /strictly using distilled water only for thinning/. As soon the acrylic resin not able forming a film , it will release the pigment to the surface. It is called chalking in English, I think. If you are not looking for this particular effect, it is simply ugly. The chalking is prevalent using light colors over dark surfaces /titanium dioxide as pigment is prone to this effect/. I find Schmincke Primacryl /tube version/ having the best resin from this perspective. /comparing to GW, Vallejo, P3, Liquitex Heavy Body, Army Painter/. P3 is also a very good paint, but my local shop stopped selling them.
I would say Vallejo Model range is ok as an acrylic paint /some say it is mixed with vinyl resin, but it is not the case anymore, it is pure acrylic polymer/. For beginners Vallejo still has a huge benefit, because many SBS articles describing the painting process using Vallejo paints.
Scale75 is a unique acrylic paint with a real death matte finish. Although I consider the resin in the Scale75 paint average quality, the pigmentation, the selection of the colors still makes them worthy to buy.
GW paints are real acrylic polymer paints /no vinyl/, just overpriced. So far I could not find any evidence that any of the model paint manufacturers producing anything better than student grade paints /which is till good quality for many of us/, which is quite funny considering that top quality artist paints are cheaper.
From Army Painter I have few colors only, nothing special to mention.
No science here, just a recommendation to grab a tube of Primacryl or P3 and give a try, before investing into the whole range of any brand.
You might also use premixed washes for glazing, or use mediums containing resin for mixing.
Second lesson - The mediums. In short these are the additives /some pre-mixed into the paint already/ changing the drying time, transparency, viscosity, sheen etc of the paint.
This is the same story as with the paints, huge differences among the manufacturers. First note: while artist grade acrylics and mediums represent very good quality, both the paint and many mediums dry with gloss or semi-gloss surface. /exception of Jo Sonja and Vallejo Artis Acrylics, none of them available in my country unfortunately/. Some mediums contain resin/acrylic polymer, some not. Those lacking the resin are pure additives, without any binding power of the resin, therefore there is a limit how much of the medium can be mixed into your paint. Those with resin, can be mixed into the paint as much as you wish /sort of/. Among the mediums, the Matte medium is the one I use heavily. Liquitex Ultra Matte Medium is far the best I used so far /vs Vallejo, Amsterdam, GW Lahmian/. There are 2 main reasons using Matte medium. 1. Reduce gloss of the paint and washes. With artist acrylics it is must have, it is quite useful for model paints as well, because none of them are death matte /except Scale75/. 2. A paint, wash, glazing layer adheres to a matte surface better than to glossy surface. In the worst case nothing binds to the glossy surface. Use matte medium to prevent this. Alternatively you can use matte varnish to overcome gloss surface adherence problems. Tamiya X21 Flat base works to certain extend to reduce gloss, but it is not a real medium, but more a silica powder.
As soon you learn about blending technique, you will hear about retarders. Retarder medium is slowing the drying time of the acrylic paint. Usually Fluid retarder do not contain any binder/glue, so the proportion added to the mix shall be well controlled. Too much retarder might prevent the acrylic polymer forming a film layer, and will never really dry.
Next you might start creating washes, were Flow improver is coming into the picture. As the name suggest it helps with the flow of the paint. This additive helping braking the surface tension of water.
Both retarder and flow improver required during airbrushing acrylics, with a product like Liquitex Airbrush Medium you might get what you need for both blending and mixing washes.
Two more point to be considered when using additives. In general they reduce the strength of the acryl film layer, use sparingly /except those containing resin/. You might re-consider licking your brush during painting, especially when using Flow improver. Read the label, some ingredient might be nasty.
Third lesson - water palette. Might be the most important lesson for a beginner. There are many articles about it, you can easily create your own wet palette. As a sponge any water absorbent kitchen type is fine, as long it is white /Vileda has some/. As a beginner introducing color shifting into your mixing process, due to the color sponge below your wet paper, is just too big challenge. The usual recommendation for the paper is to go with baking/parchment paper. Depending on your country, it might be the way to go, but I have no success with the baking papers from my country. Main issue is they dissolve quickly after adding water and introducing fiber parts into the paint mix. I bought Mr Black wet palette, which has a sheet of both Masterson and Rowney special paper /the 2 main supplier of wet palette for artist shops/. I use Masterson because it is thicker.
And the most important tool – the brush. The usual recommendation is Winsor Series 7. Easy one, so I went to the only local shop selling these. No luck. Spending half hour examining Series 7 0/1/2 size brushes I was not impressed. The sharpness of the tip, density and the form of bristles differed on each one of them. Calling the local distributor I figured that it might be just a bad batch, or since they are made in China QC dropped. No idea.
I ended up buying brushes from a local shop, who is rebranding smaller German/ Japanese/ Chinese manufacturers products. I have also learned from them, that there are still many small brush manufacturers, so it is worth asking around in your country.
Summarizing all this, the recommended shopping list for a beginner
- Mr Black wet palette / or a DIY
- Badger Stynylrez primer /or re-packed version from Ultimate, MIG etc
- Vallejo Model Color Face/Skin 16 set /widely available and reasonable price
- 60ml Schmincke Primacryl Titanium White /because of the resin quality and this is a real opaque white
- Liquitex Ultra matte medium or Liqiutex Matte Medium
- Liquitex Airbrush medium /as retarder and flow improver/
Even if you are not a born Michelangelo/I am definitely not/, with practice you might get some pleasing results. Choosing the right tools from the beginning, helps a lot preserving your motivation.
There are many brands missing, due to the lack of availability in my country, like Golden, Jo Sonja, Winsor Artist, Atelier Interactive, Vallejo Artist etc. Sonner or later ...
